noun

dogwood

DAWG-wood/ˈdɔːɡwʊd/

A flowering tree or shrub with showy bracts and hard wood.

A flowering dogwood brightens the front yard each spring.

A flowering dogwood branch with four white bracts surrounding small central flowers.

Etymology

The name’s origin is uncertain. It may involve dag, “to pierce,” because the hard wood was reportedly used for skewers, or dog in the sense “inferior,” referring to the fruit.

In context

Peter Collin9:22

and we have opposite opposite Twigs they grow mirror image of each other and any tree with an opposite twig pattern is either a maple or an ash or a dogwood

Tree Identification - Northeastern Hardwoods

More examples

We planted two dogwoods along the edge of the yard.
The showy white bracts of this dogwood surround tiny flowers.
This dogwood grows as a shrub rather than a tree.

Forms

dogwood · dogwoods